History

Volleyball was created in 1895 by a YMCA physical educator  , William G.Morgan. It was first known as Mintonette and was mainly a pastime played indoors by any number of players. The game was based on the characteristics of both tennis and handball. The first volleyball game was played on February 9th 1895 in Holyoke , Massachusetts. This new sport started to be known as "volleyball" after an observer , Alfred Halstead, notice its volleying nature at the first exibition of the game in 1896 , when it was played at the International YMCA training school.

           William G.Morgan

In 1900, a ball was specially created for that sport and it is the ball that we still use today. Throughout the years , this sport started to spread all around the world . In 1919 the American Expeditionary Forces even distributed 16 000 volleyballs to it's troops and allies, which also provided a stimulus for the growth of volleyball. 

A year after, the rules of three hit per side and back rule attack were instituted. In 1922, the first YMCA national championships were held in Brooklyn, New york. 27 teams from 11 states were represented . 

This sport started to increase it's popularity and it became soon clear that more tournaments and real rules were needed. So, in 1928, USA volleyball ( before known as the United States Volleybball Association) was formed. That organization began to created more and more open tournaments ( for non-YMCA members) . 

 In the 1930's , people would also play volleyball outside, particurlarly whenever they went to the beach. At that is how beach volleyball was born . The first beach volleyball tournament was held in 1948.

In 1947 , the Federation Internationale de Volleyball ( FIVB) was founded in Paris. They were the ones that first introduced the famous forearm pass in the late 1940's . It was called the '' desperation play'' since it was supposed to be used only if the player was in difficulty ( most balls were played with overhand pass).

The first World Championships were held in 1949 in the city Prague, Czechoslovakia. In 1955, the Pan American Games included volleyball as one of their categories. Following their footsteps, the International Olympic Commitee included volleyball in the 1964 Tokyo Olympic games , after it designated the sport as an Olympic team discipline. 

Finally , the FIVB added a Beach Volleyball World Championship Series in 1987 and in 1996, Beach volleyball was first played as an Olympic sport. 

Interesting fact : In 1995 , Volleyball was 100 years old !